INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 2016 HELPING PEOPLE TO SURVIVE, RECOVER AND RECLAIM THEIR FUTURE CONTENTS Message from the President 1 and Board Co-Chairs Refugees Welcome 2 Front Cover: A newly resettled refugee Global First Responder 12 participates in an orientation session at the IRC office in Boise, Idaho. Our Supporters 14 Inside Cover: Board of Directors and Staff Leadership 27 Children in the village of Al Agaeeb, Yemen, receive hygiene kits. Financial Report 28 The IRC provides emergency aid, medical care and clean water to millions of people affected by How You Can Help 29 conflict in Yemen. IRC Annual Report 2016 1 David Miliband Katherine Farley Tracy Wolstencroft Timothy F. Geithner President Co-Chair, Co-Chair, Chair, and CEO IRC Board of Directors IRC Board of Directors IRC Overseers MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CHAIRS OF THE IRC BOARD AND OVERSEERS Dear Friends, reaching more people in need more quickly. our positive experiences resettling refugees in We are honored to present the Last year we trained over 200 aid workers the U.S., to make known the positive benefits IRC Annual Report for 2016, a in six emergency-prone countries in rapid they bring to their new communities, and to year in which our staff members response, and our efforts are working: When convince citizens and policy makers alike to and volunteers rose to meet violence increased in Afghanistan’s Helmand embrace America’s tradition of welcoming all unprecedented challenges. province, the IRC was the only humanitarian those “yearning to breathe free.” Never have so many people been agency on the ground within 72 hours. displaced by conflict and natural The global impact of the IRC is a testament disaster. Never has the need for Our new “outcomes and evidence” strategy to the effectiveness of our staff members the IRC’s work been greater. ensures that IRC programs are based on the working in the field and in offices around best available evidence. We are delivering the world. Despite challenging odds, our Last year, the number of people displaced by high-impact cost-effective programs in colleagues define hope for the growing conflict worldwide surpassed 65 million. In the areas of health, education, safety, refugee population. Their unselfish Syria alone, six years of war have driven 13.5 empowerment and economic well-being. commitment to excellence is an inspiration. million people from their homes. Millions more have been uprooted in Afghanistan, Nigeria, In Greece, for example, our innovative cash Creativity, innovation, principled advocacy Yemen and elsewhere. If displaced people programming is making a real difference for on behalf of those fleeing conflict could form a country, it would be the 21st refugees struggling in makeshift camps. In and persecution—and your generous largest in the world, with a population greater Jordan, our skills and business training is contributions—are primary reasons that than Great Britain’s. enabling hundreds of refugees to get jobs. the IRC wins top marks from charity evaluators: A+ from CharityWatch; “meets Meanwhile, a drought, exacerbated by war This is not just aid, but “better aid” that helps all 20 standards” from the Better Business and climate change, is sweeping across both refugees and the communities that host Bureau Wise Giving Alliance; and for an East Africa. There is a real possibility of four them to recover and prosper. unprecedented 10th consecutive year, four famines—in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria stars from Charity Navigator. and Yemen—simultaneously endangering We are also standing up for refugee rights more than 30 million. in the United States. Last year, even as we Speaking on behalf of our Board, Overseers, resettled more than 13,000 refugees across IRC colleagues, and all those served by the And yet, when the world should be coming the country, the IRC won a court case against IRC, we wish to express our appreciation together to support the neediest, many the government of Texas, which tried to bar and gratitude for your generosity. We also nations are cutting foreign aid and assistance Syrian refugees from entering the state. At the respectfully ask for your extraordinary and raising barriers to refugee resettlement. federal level, the recent proposals to pause support in what promises to be an Political debate in Europe, the United States the refugee resettlement program, and reduce extraordinary year ahead. and elsewhere regularly demonizes and by half the number of refugees allowed into scapegoats refugees, stoking an “us versus the country, are not based on evidence. They them” nationalism that undermines empathy target the most vetted and most vulnerable In 2016, more than and respect for other people. people. The IRC is working overtime not just 26 million people to deliver high quality services that make for a benefited from IRC programs and Despite fierce headwinds, the IRC is meeting successful refugee experience in the 29 cities those of its partner these challenges on every front. We are where we resettle refugees, but to convey organizations 2 IRC Annual Report 2016 Safa’a, a Syrian refugee in Jordan, checks the water pipe under a kitchen sink. With IRC training and a grant, she set up her own plumbing business. Right: Safa’a and Hala check and fix a sink in a private house. Many women customers prefer to hire female plumbers if they are alone in their homes. IRC Annual Report 2016 3 THE IRC IN 2016: REFUGEES WELCOME Last year, the number of people displaced by conflict around the globe surpassed 65 million. In Syria alone, six years of war has driven 13.5 million from their homes, nearly 5 million of whom have fled to neighboring countries. Persecution and natural disaster have uprooted millions more in Nigeria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere. Much of this global homeless population will spend years in exile. Most will never return home. Instead they will rebuild their lives as best they can in foreign cities, towns and villages alongside local populations. Wherever they resettle, the IRC is there to help. We provide vital aid that makes an immediate difference in the lives of the most vulnerable. We also provide economic support, education and skills training that help refugees not just survive but to recover and thrive. And we work to unite refugees, displaced people and their host communities so both may prosper. Here are highlights of the IRC’s work with refugees, the displaced and host communities around the world. Jordan: Empowering The IRC is working to address these barriers entrepreneurs through its project focused on job creation— the Million Jobs Challenge—and with training The war in Syria has displaced millions programs, start-up grants, and small-business from their homes, many of whom have classes. Among those benefiting from such sought refuge in neighboring countries such initiatives: Syrian women newly empowered as Jordan. Host communities inevitably to create opportunities for themselves and struggle to meet even the basic needs of their families. these refugees, most of whom desperately want to work to support their families. But “A lot of women from Syria came to first they must establish legal residency, Jordan without their husbands,” explains obtain work permits, and overcome Safa’a,* 42, who fled from Dara’a to Irbid, language and cultural barriers. Jordan, after her son was wounded, her husband arrested, and their family business destroyed. “They can’t allow workers into their houses when they are home alone. They have to wait for a male relative to be with them in the house. I heard about a plumbing course for refugees… I didn’t know a thing about plumbing, but I felt like plumbing would be a special project— women helping other women.” After graduating from the plumbing course, Safa’a and her friend Hala signed up for IRC classes in marketing and promotion and teamed up with five other refugee women to start their own business. “I don’t want to be stuck in the past,” says Hala. “I want to move forward with my life. We refugees are now members of the 4 IRC Annual Report 2016 Then, she heard about the business born in Jordan. Her husband had sewn THE IRC IN JORDAN: training program at the IRC’s women’s bridal dresses in their former city, which center; and like Safa’a, she had a unique is why Manal bought a sewing machine HOW WE HELP idea: beekeeping. “In Syria, we had land with money that she found on the street. In 2016, the IRC aided: and kept bees, a passion my husband and “That machine is special to me,” she I both inherited from our parents.” says. “I think of it as a gift that fell from the skies.” 15,000+ In her IRC classes, she studied budgeting, women and girls through protection pricing and marketing. “All of this helped Manal had been going to the IRC women’s and empowerment programs a lot. The most important thing I learned center for counseling sessions to help was how to document everything I do.” her cope with the stress of refugee life. So she didn’t hesitate to enroll in the community; there’s a chance for us to work Um Laith and her husband bought their IRC small-business training program to and evolve with the community.” first beehive less than a year ago, recently help her realize her idea: an upholstery adding three more and buying new shop catering to retailers selling custom- Hala and Safa’a now repair water and air equipment with an IRC grant of $700. designed furniture. filters, air conditioners and dishwashers, as well as mend broken pipes.